tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8295842622907562620.post604916920210639301..comments2021-09-12T09:42:34.156-07:00Comments on Gardening with Jess: Potato mysteryBob Barnetsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12164225489620639641noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8295842622907562620.post-54617684897601765422014-08-07T13:38:28.868-07:002014-08-07T13:38:28.868-07:00Interesting--thanks!Interesting--thanks!Bob Barnetsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12164225489620639641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8295842622907562620.post-38938796215601598372014-08-06T09:20:17.863-07:002014-08-06T09:20:17.863-07:00A very superficial search later and it looks like ...A very superficial search later and it looks like skin colour changes are the most common type of mutation. Still, it would be incredibly coincidental for there to be the same mutation in multiple plants, but as you say, if they are all daughters of the same plant, I suppose they might have a predisposition to colour change.JJLeggohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09314567615305520517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8295842622907562620.post-77856969557452111892014-08-05T12:09:05.766-07:002014-08-05T12:09:05.766-07:00Interesting; thanks! Weird it would happen on four...Interesting; thanks! Weird it would happen on four of nine plants an sonly produce a single non-red. It could well be that the four plants that produced the off-colour potato were all daughters of a single plant last year thus share some sort of genetic error? Now that the potatoes have been cleaned and dried, the brown potatoes look the same as the red, except it lacks the skin pigmentation.Bob Barnetsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12164225489620639641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8295842622907562620.post-42583684716944985092014-08-05T09:24:39.405-07:002014-08-05T09:24:39.405-07:00The potato mystery is strange! The only possibilit...The potato mystery is strange! The only possibility I can come up with is that sometimes during regular cell division at the growing tip, plant cells will mutate randomly, and because it is the apical meristem (the growing tip, from which all the rest of the plant cells in that portion of the plant are derived), it changes how the plant grows or what it looks like. I'm not sure, but I think this is more likely to happen in newer (maybe less stable) plant varieties.<br />For example, at AU Central, there are a number of the red-leaf variety of choke cherries planted near the fountains. One of these has recently sprouted a green-leaved twig from the tip of one branch.JJLeggohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09314567615305520517noreply@blogger.com